John F. Floyd Commentary: US should take Putin's apocalyptic nuclear threats seriously

I have never liked a person or politician who was a single-issue advocate. Now I have discovered, belatedly I admit, a person or persons who are political to the extent of being a single political party follower. No matter what the issue, no matter what the social disruption and no matter what the consequences, it is my party, right or wrong.

I previously wrote what I thought was a friendly article on the utilization of electric vs. hybrid/electric technology in automotive manufacturing. The article had nothing to do with politics except it offered a way to make the transition from gas-powered vehicles to all-electric in an organized and sensible way. No thoughts were given to political parties or party affiliation.

I had a good friend take exception to the article because he viewed it as anti-Democrat. We had a good discussion about the hybrid concept vs. electric, and we ended the conversation by this person telling me, “I am a Democrat.”

Being a Democrat doesn’t mean, or shouldn’t mean, one has to explicitly follow the party line. I feel the same way about the Republican Party or other party affiliations, though I admit in my advanced years, I have become more conservative in my thought processes.

Never has party affiliation been so dangerous as it presently manifests itself. The Democrats’ leader, President Joe Biden, literally has his finger on the trigger that could cause another war, a war like the United States has never confronted.

On one side we have a madman, Vladimir Putin, running loose in the world. He has generated a “cornered animal syndrome” with his invasion of the Ukraine. Putin is a desperate man.

On the other side there is a good man, President Biden, but a person with flawed characteristics. With his speech gaffes, he is placing the United States in a precarious position.

Biden talks about “Armageddon” as if it was another chapter in the Book of Man. Putin’s threats should be taken as real and menacing.

Scott S. Sagan wrote in the Wall Street Journal's Review Section, “Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threats have been menacing and apocalyptic. In March 2018, he told an interviewer that he would not start a nuclear war, but if “aggressors” attacked Russia, ‘Vengeance is inevitable. ... We will go to heaven as martyrs. They will just drop dead.’”

When he illegally annexed parts of the Ukraine, Putin escalated the threat, announcing “that if the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will without doubt use all available means to protect Russia and our people. This is not a bluff.”

I believe him. And what he perceives as a threat is anybody’s guess. But the big and most important question is, “Should the United States risk a nuclear war over the conflict in Ukraine?” Once the genie is out of the bottle, it will be very difficult to put him back and close the cap.

My answer to going to war over the Ukraine is no, and emphatically no.

The Ukraine was not on the U.S. radar screen until Russia started making menacing threats in 2021. President Biden thought he could forestall the invasion through diplomacy, but his efforts have had no success.

On the Wall Street Journal’s Opinion page, writer Walter Russell Mead asked this question: “Would we risk New York to keep Odessa free?”

Mead continued, “Deterring Russia doesn’t mean humiliating it. As President Kennedy understood, deterrence complements diplomacy. The more effective our deterrence, the more flexible our diplomacy can become. Deterrence however comes first. Mr. Biden must bar the door to using nuclear weapons before he can seek a path to peace.”

Does anybody believe, Democrat or Republican, that President Biden has the stature or presence to broker a treaty with Russia to end the Ukraine war?

Let us hope that Russia has the same controls on its nuclear arsenal as the United States in preventing the unauthorized use by military commanders. U.S. nuclear weapons are electronically locked with Permissive Action Links. This electronic system should prevent any usage not authorized. I don’t know who or what controls the missiles in Russia targeted for the U.S., but I will bet it is Putin.

Can the U.S. take a chance that Putin will arm his nuclear capability that includes missiles directed toward American cities?

John F. Floyd is a Gadsden native who graduated from Gadsden High School in 1954. He formerly was director of United Kingdom manufacturing, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., vice president of manufacturing and international operations, General Tire & Rubber Co., and director of manufacturing, Chrysler Corp. He can be reached at johnfloyd538@gmail.com. The opinions reflected are his own.   

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: John F. Floyd looks at Vladimir Putin's nuclear threats